Hey there,
I enjoyed watching Studio Ghibli movies when I was young, and I still do (I watched My Neighbor Totoro recently xD). So, I made this post for anyone who wants to watch one of the movies, or know what the movies are about. I picked 3 of the movies for this part 1 post, and soon will post part 2 with new movies. The ratings were concluded by averaging the ratings from other sites such as Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, and MyAnimeList. The plot is originally from Wikipedia, and rephrased by me. I hope you like them, and if you have other suggestions, you can comment or contact me by my email. Enjoy and thanks : )
1. My Neighbor Totoro
♥Ratings: 4.7/5
♥Tatsuo, an university professor, and his two daughters, Satsuki and Mei, move into a new house in the rural areas while Yasuko, Satsuki and Mei’s mother, is hospitalised due to a long-term illness. Satsuki and Mei soon discovers susuwatari, a small, dust-like house spirit, in their house. Susuwatari leaves their house when they settle in, and move to another empty house. One day, Mei sees two small rabbit-like creatures and follow them into the large camphor tree, where she befriends a much bigger rabbit-like creature. She calls it Totoro. She falls asleep on Totoro, but when Satsuki finds her, she is on the ground. Mei tries to lead her family to the tree, but fails because the tree is gone. One rainy night, the girls wait in the bus station for their father, who hasn’t arrived when he should’ve. Totoro appears beside them, and Satsuki sees him for the first time. Feeling bad for the Totoro who only has a leaf for protection against the heavy rainfall, Satsuki hands him a spare umbrella she had saved for her father. In return, Totoro hands her a bundle of nuts and seeds. Then, a cat bus stops at the station and Totoro gets on it. Soon, their father arrives. The girls plant the seeds, which grow into a large tree at night. Totter and his friends dance around it, and the girls join them. Together, they ride on a magical flying top. Next morning, the tree is gone, but the seeds have sprouted. The girls find out that their mother cannot visit them due to her treatment, and Mei leaves off to go to the hospital, with a corn for her mother. Her disappearance worries Satsuki and the neighbors. While the neighbors each for Mei, Satsuki asks Totoro for help. They ride on a cat bus and find Mei. Then, they go to the hospital to see their mom and find out that she’s doing well-except she has a minor cold. They leave the corn on the windowsill and return home.
♥Famous Soundtrack
2. Spirited Away
♥Ratings: 4.8/5
♥Chihiro and her parents are travelling to their home when her father takes a wrong turn, leading them to a magical world. He thinks it is an abandoned amusement park. Chihiro’s parents enter a restaurant and devour food in the restaurant like pigs while a young boy named Haku warns Chihiro to get out of the place before sunset. Chihiro finds her parents who have turned into pigs. Haku tells Chihiro to get a job from the bathhouse’s boiler-man named Kamaji. Kamari and Lin sends Chihiro to Yubaba, a cruel owner of the bathhouse, who hires her exchange her identity, renaming her Sen. Haku takes Sen for a visit to her parents, and tells her that if she will be trapped in the spirit world if she forgets her real name. While working, Sen invites a creature named No-face into the bathhouse, and a stink spirit arrives. She discovers he is the guardian spirit of a polluted river. He gives Sen a magic dumpling. While most of the workers are asleep, No-Face tempts workers with gold and swallows them, growing larger. Sen finds paper shikigami attacking a dragon (which Haku transformed into). Injured, Haku crashes into Yubaba’s penthouse. When Sen reaches Haku, a shikigami transforms into Zeniba, Yubaba’s twin sister. Zeniba turns Yubaba’s son into a mouse and her bird creature into a tiny bird. She tells Sen that Haku stole a magic golden seal from her which carries a deadly curse. Sen feeds Haku part of the magic dumpling, and Haku throws up the seal and a black slug. Sen returns the seal to Zeniba and apologies for Haku. When she leaves the bathhouse, she meets No-face and feeds him rest of the dumpling. No-face chases Sen, throwing up those whom he had eaten and decreasing in size. Furious at the damage caused by No-face, Yubaba declares that Sen’s parents will be slaughtered. When Yubaba’s son, Boh, is missing, Haku promises to find him in return for Yubaba freeing Sen’s parents. Sen, No-face, and Boh arrive at Zenniba’s house, and Zeniba tells her that her love for Haku broke the curse. Haku, in his dragon form, brings Sen and Boh back to the bathhouse. Sen correctly guesses that Haku is the spirit of the Kohaku River. Yubaba tells Sen that the only way to break her parents’ curse is to correctly identify them from rest of the pigs. Sen correctly guesses them, and the curse gets broken. Haku leads Sen to the entrance of the spirit world, and Sen reunites with her parents who don’t remember anything. They walk back to the car and drive away.
♥Famous Soundtrack
3. Howl’s moving castle
♥Ratings: 4/5
♥An 18 year old hatter named Sophie meets a wizard named Howl on her way to visit her sister Lettie. When she returns to the shop, the Witch of the Waste transforms her into a ninety year old granny. Trying to find out a way to turn back to her old self, she travels to the Wastes and meets a scarecrow which she names Turnip Head. He leads her to Howl’s castle, where Sophie meets Markl, Howl’s apprentice, and Calcifer, fire which is source of the castle’s energy and magic. When Howl appears, Sophie says that she has been hired as a cleaning lady. On the other hand, Sophie’s country is having a war and the Crown Prince of other country has disappeared. The king summons Howl, but Howl decides to send Sophie instead, and gives her a ring that connects her to Calcifer. He reassures her that he will follow her into the palace. In the palace, Suliman punishes Witch of the Waste and turns her into a harmless old lady. Sullivan tells Sophie that Howl will experience the same thing if he refuses to enter the war. Sophie protests, and Howl comes to rescue Sophie. They escape, taking Heen the dog and Witch of Waste. Sophie realizes that every time Howl transforms into a bird-like creature in the war, it reduces his ability to turn back to human form. Sullivan controls Sophie’s mom to leave a bag containing a peeping bug. The witch destroys it by tossing it to Calcifer, but Calcifer becomes sick and becomes unable to protect the castle form being seen. Later, Sophie returns to her young form with grey hair. Sullivan attacks them, but Howl refuses to leave because he wants to protect her. Sophie moves everyone out of the castle and destroys the castle. When the witch realises that Howl has given his heart to Calcifer, she clenches Calcifer. Panicked, Sophie pours water onto the Witch which makes Calcifer lose his power. The castle splits into two, and Sophie and Heen gets separated from Calcifer and the witch. Sophie finds Howl in bird form. The witch returns Howl’s heart which saves Howl and frees Calcifer. With Calcifer gone, the remaining platform collapses. Sophie kisses Turnip Head, which breaks his curse and reveals that he is the missing prince. Howl wakes up and the others are seen high above the bomber planes upon a new flying castle.
♥Famous Soundtrack
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